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1978 Gary Little John sidehack

Here we have one of if not the nicest Gary Little John sidehack know to exist . This was restored by one of the real deal sidehack racers back in the day ... The hack is superb... the seat is perfect and all stickers are in grate shape ... .The Mongoose also is a thing of beauty ! all stickers intact ... the Motomags are perfect... as close to NOS as you can get .... All parts are era correct except for the tires ... this machine has been ridden ... but not hard .... as i said ... this is the nicest know example of a GLJ hack ... bolted to a goose that there is ..
re-built by Ben Joy

RealFox · 2006-11-28 2:44am

I..., do not get why *no-one* has commented on this. It's cool, but what is it's purpose? Sure, you can carry another person on it, but... why? An-E-Who..., it is cool though.

djdane · 2006-11-28 3:00am

This is a fantastic part of bmx history. I don't get it why no one comments on the rare classic bikes that should be in the museum, but the rajulio hector de la hondo bikes get 20 replies. People need to recognize what the history of bmx is all about.

skinnygmg · 2006-11-28 5:48am

fox, they used to 2 man race these bitd. just a different avenu of bmx. awsome sidehack jmcracing! both pices are beautiful! i would love to take a spin on one of these someday.

pjcruiser · 2006-11-28 8:52am

yep, some great history there. i would love to build one someday, but that takes a lot of $$$ that i don't have

caleb_k21 · 2006-11-28 9:48am

hey i agree with you guys.. i love this thing i seen it many times but just never posted a coment.. its awesome

elfdoublecross · 2006-12-25 11:16am

sidehacks are an awesome part of bmx history. i am too young to remember these races but i have researched images and text online- very cool aspect of racing for sure! this bike is a classic example of the early years of bmx. it is definitely sweet!

joediscipulo · 2007-01-18 8:45pm

THIS IS THE EXACT SETUP MY BROTHER AND I STARTED WITH IN '77. WE RACED IT FOR THE SAME DURATION AS OUR BMX CAREERS, ABOUT 20 YEARS, (WE EVEN CAME BACK AND DID EXHIBITION RACES WITH GORK) AS THE DISCIPULO DUO IN NBA, UBR, NBL AND EVENTUALLY ABA. WE ARE THE ONES WHO JUMPED THE PRO SECTIONS AT THE OLD SOCAL TRACK CORONA DOWNHILL. I LOVE THIS BIKE. AMAZINGLY IT IS STILL IN THE FAMILY AND MY BRO AND I STILL RIDE IT. NOW I AM SHOWING MY 9 AND 12 YR OLD HOW TO RIDE IT. OH IF ANYONE OUT THERE WAS ON THE NOMURA RACINGTEAM OR REMEMBER JOE & MIKE DISCIPULO PLEASE DROP ME AN EMAIL!!! BUYNSELLURHOME@yahoo.com

saylor · 2007-01-18 9:08pm

I've wanted to build a sidehack since forever.

sigh.

bmxmatt · 2007-02-21 7:12am

This is an amazing machine. I can imagine blasting around the neighborhood on this with the kids in the sidehack.

jjvh66 · 2007-05-09 12:59am

RealFox wrote:
I..., do not get why *no-one* has commented on this.

elfdoublecross wrote:
i am too young to remember these races.

that made me giggle. do any of the new schoolers (25 & under) know what the BW sticker is for? or why it mite be on THIS bike?

JMC, one hell of a hack you got bolted to that Goose.

Last edited by jjvh66 (2007-05-09 1:16am)

ALAKRAN · 2007-07-02 9:47pm

hopefullly i will build one of these soon currently restoring a motomag goose i also have 3 motomags but i need a side hack.....anyways awesome build

86GTWorldTour · 2007-07-30 7:11am

ALAKRAN wrote:
hopefullly i will build one of these soon currently restoring a motomag goose i also have 3 motomags but i need a side hack.....anyways awesome build

someone just had 1 for sale on here

SUPERB part of BMX history. There's some old videos on youtube of these racing at an actual event

!J0nes · 2007-09-07 7:40am

Hello,
I'm a graphic artist; I also restore antique bikes. I'm doing some repop decal sets for the "LittleJohn" machines. These will not be available for sale until I can obtain copyright permission, of course.

I'd *LOVE* to get a clear hi-res shot of that logo on the fender!!!

swsm1th (at) hotmail.com

iwantanoldschoolbike · 2007-09-27 4:53am

on youtube i watched a 1983 video i think with the sidehack, does it have like springs or something taht allows it to lean when you turn? it looked like taht in the video, anyways i like it a lot, im 13 and it looks like i could fly on it

yamobethere · 2008-01-10 3:07am

did someone repop the stickers?

earnie911 · 2008-03-13 6:31pm

That is the coolest Little John EVER!!!!!!

di19026 · 2008-05-22 3:23am

In late 1979 I lived in Phoenix, AZ - raced a little BMX and had a huge paper route. For me, getting a sidehack was a must for my route after seeing someone with one of these at the local track. I looked and found nothing. Eventually I got the number to Gary Littlejohn Enterprises and Gary himself answered the call and told me all about the hacks. They had very few of them left and so I ordered one and had it shipped out to me. Most hacks I had seen were homemade jobs, usually they would cut another frame and weld it to the main bike. The fact that the Littlejohn hack was BOLT-ON was a huge advantage for me as I could easily go with or without the hack. Yummm.. It was VERY solid when attached to the bike.

Needless to say when the thing showed up, the bolt pattern and clamps did not fit my Schwinn or my ProFab frame. I was super bummed out but did not want to give up. I called every bike store in town and got the LAST Gary Littlejohn BMX bike frame that would fit the hack perfectly. It was a burnt orange color. I finished everything off with three black Tuff-Wheels moto-mags.

Every chickie in the neighborhood wanted a ride whenever they saw me cruising down the street. Oh yeah, those were the days man. I would bungiecord a stereo to the hack and be in business! Off to the arcade! Other than that one time at the track I never saw another one other than mine again until seeing the pic on this board. I totally forgot it had a cushion! No wonder the chicks were so into it. heh heh...

I forgot to add- Gary told me on the phone back then that they made some of these for beach cruisers too. Good luck finding one of those!

Last edited by di19026 (2008-05-22 3:25am)

bits n pieces · 2008-05-23 2:09pm

cool bike and sidehack! im going to make my own version of the sidehack, it will be the poor mans version. ill post it up after its done, this bike motivated me to build one,

FRESSTYLE FREEK · 2008-05-23 2:32pm

I realy realy whant one some one here even makes very nice one's for sale. but just do not have the parking space for a rig like that. friend at school back in th day had one man it was sick! I was the only guy allowed to ride the side hack as a pasenger do to my freecky litte self 80pounds back then I wayed. sorry for the pore spelling.

ozzyr · 2008-09-20 11:39am

I love wont one so much
but cant find one anywhere:/

plz let m know if any know wear some are

mongoosedrummer · 2008-09-20 10:21pm

Amazing piece of BMX history...

For those younger guys who may not know... Side-Hacks (or Hacks) were a huge part of 1970's BMX and were very thrilling (especially for their crashes!!!) and just different.

Lately, they have made somewhat of a comeback. I've seen some guys on OS-BMX riding them in skate-parks.

Ben Joy (who re-built this one) is a master of BMX history. Lucky for me he has actually sent me some emails and shared his knowledge. Aside from being a great former 70's BMX racer, he is also a serious vintage Mongoose expert and has shared his information with countless people including me.

Another great guy who has shared his "hack" knowledge and history with me is Rick Twomey of the famous Rick's Bike Shop. He has one of the oldest surviving side-hacks in the world and built it himself. I'm going to try and post a link with a picture of it:

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh73 … O4273.jpeg

It seems I can't post the link here... I'll try to put it in the museum. Cheers.

Last edited by mongoosedrummer (2008-09-20 10:24pm)